


Need A Holiday

by chimeradragon



Category: Inception (2010), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Crossover, Dreams, M/M, venom - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 12:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17683844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chimeradragon/pseuds/chimeradragon
Summary: Eames is trapped in a Dreamscape and Arthur needs to save him.But there's more to it than that...





	Need A Holiday

Eames stared hard eyes aimed dead ahead of himself as he avoided looking at any one thing, in particular, projections staring at him and watching him. He felt a thrill run down his back as unfamiliar hands touched his shoulder. He flinched a bit, eyes wide, certain he was about to be torn apart by projections. But the hands were soft and gentle. 

"Eames?" a familiar voice called. 

Eames looked around, surrounded by projections, none of them familiar. But the strange thing was that none of the projections looked angry. Only sad and worried. He'd never seen projections act like this. 

"Eames!" the same voice, distinctly male with a faint nasal quality to it. 

"Who's there?" Eames asked, voice cracking slightly as a multitude of hands patted him, and held him, but none hurt him. He felt like he was being pulled away from the voice. One that was so familiar and yet he couldn't place the feeling and person. He knew he needed to get to the voice, but there was the slightest chance that could end poorly. 

"Eames!" the voice rang out again, a little closer this time and Eames decided to say screw it and pushed his way towards the voice. Hands continued to pull at him, but not as hard as before. "Eames! Where in the hell are you?"

"I'm over here!" Eames finally shouted, feeling like he was trying to fight his way through quick-dry cement. "I'm having a spot of trouble! Care to help?" 

"I swear to god. If you're trying to get me riled up..." the voice replied, closer now. 

There was a moment where the projections seemed to close in around Eames; much tighter than before, and suddenly the Brit found himself in a small opening between the projections. Eames blinked and swayed against the sudden freedom, looking around. Hundreds of unfamiliar faces, cobblestone streets, and a man in a well-fitted pressed three-piece suit and slicked back hair that was nearly black. 

"Eames! I was starting to worry I'd never find you down here," the man stated with a relieved smile on his face. He took a step forward and Eames took an instinctive step back. 

"And just who might you be, darling? I don't really trust projections at the moment." Eames offered with a hand up and a slight shrug of his shoulders. He gave a quick smile in apology. 

"You don't remember me?" the man asked as his expression fell into one of sadness mixed with disappointment. 

"Sorry, love. Don't remember everyone I've met," Eames answered feeling a tug on the back of his mind. Like he should know the answer to his own question, but it was just out of reach. 

"I'm not a projection," the man insisted as he held his hands out to show he wasn't armed. 

"I'm sure you're not," Eames replied, the quip was supposed to be sarcastic but he quickly realized how much he believed the man before him was real. Someone from the real world. Maybe even the Dreamer and these were his projections, but why none of the projections were attacking him was strange. Even the best-trained people's projections attacked when they knew there was a foreign mind in the Dreamspace. "These yours?"

"Kind of," the man replied with a nervous laugh as he ran a hand through his perfect hair. "It's ... experimental."

"Really? Fascinating. You got a name?" Eames asked as he let himself relax slightly. He saw some of the projections relax around him, which made little sense. 

"Arthur," the man replied with a soft sigh. "Listen, Eames, the PASIV has been active for longer than we anticipated. It ... it doesn't seem to want to shut down. We... we ran it for the ten minutes we'd planned... but it's been active for almost three hours. I ... I was knocked out of the Dreamspace but you're still stuck down here."

"Three hours? How many level down are we?" Eames asked, brow furrowed in thought. "Maths was never my strong suit. So... I'd guess about two levels. Feels like I've been here for ages, but that could also be the dream affecting my perception of time."

"We're two down," Arthur assured him with a smile tugging at his lips. "We've tried to kick you, and your body jolts but you don't wake up. I... we are starting to get worried."

"We?" Eames asked with a cheeky grin, feeling like he'd won something. "I have a feeling that's the royal 'we' you're using, dear Arthur. And I've got this funny feeling that I'm forgetting something. Something life-alteringly important."

"I'd say a few things," Arthur huffed out a disparaging laugh as he moved close enough to grab Eames' left hand and hold it up to show off the gold band that held two relatively small gems. A chocolate diamond and sparkling sapphire. Cut so they were each half of a whole gem with a tiny black diamond in the middle. It was too detailed to be some dream remnant. He slowly turned his hand to show off the twin to Eames' ring on his own hand. 

"Really? Didn't picture myself for the settling down type," Eames laughed, not entirely sure about the whole situation, but felt a twinge of truth behind the statement. 

"Settle down?" Arthur laughed and the sound was genuine and his eyes even crinkled at the corners. "More like staking your claim." 

"That sounds more like me," Eames stated, letting his fingers thread through Arthur's with a sense there was still something missing. A voice that was distant. So distant he couldn't quite make out what it was saying. "Say... there's not a third is there?"

Arthur's look changed from mirth to pride as he brought their hands down but didn't unlink them. "Vee," he stated. "But he can't come down here with us. Do you... remember him?"

Eames bit his lip as he thought, the name 'Vee' made him think of black, but no real substance. He shook his head after a moment. "Not really, but then, I don't remember you that well. And you're right in front of me. It's... it's like everything about Dreaming is here. But I can't remember anything about my life. Before here. I have vague flashes and then nothing." 

"It's okay. Once we figure out how to get you back out of here, we'll be fine. There was some issue with initial tests. One of the Dreamers would lose sense of themselves on the first dive," Arthur replied as he squeezed Eames' hand in comfort. "We're still working on the kinks to get things stabilized. You did fine on the first level. But the second seems to have gotten you. Yusuf'll get it right soon enough."

"Did you say 'one of the Dreamers'?" Eames asked, mind latching on to the detail. 

"Yes. We're sharing a Dream. But not in the traditional sense. We're both the Dreamer," Arthur replied slowly like he was still coming to grips with the situation himself. "It's a new PASIV and a new compound. Do you remember why they made it?"

"PTSD?" Eames asked, face hopeful.

"Yes, very good Eames. I'm impressed," Arthur replied. 

"Your condescension; as always, is much appreciated, Arthur. Thank you," Eames replied almost automatically, he frowned a bit after the words left his mouth and stared at Arthur for a moment. "Sorry, was that a bit rude?"

"From anyone else? Yes. From you? A friendly barb," Arthur replied with a soft smile and a shrug. 

"I think... that feels about right," Eames replied with a small smile, he looked down at their linked hands and felt a rush of warmth. "So... how do we get out of here?"

"Normally I'd suggest a kick. That didn't work. So next I would normally suggest death," Arthur's hesitation was nearly palatable. "But I'm worried that might send you to Limbo. And if you got there... I don't know if I can follow you. Vee's already worried enough. But if you're down too far," Arthur bit his lip in a nervous habit none but Eames would see. 

"You're worried about Vee?" Eames asked, voice soft as he tried to catch Arthur's eye. "I ... when you talk about Vee it makes me think of something. Something that feels new and yet infinitely far away, love."

Arthur laughed a bit and met Eames' eyes. "Vee is that. And ... " he froze as a thought came to him suddenly. "Do you remember your name? Your real name? Not the one that you use as a cover, but the one where you met Vee?"

Eames tilted his head as he tried to think over all the names he'd used over the years. It was hard to concentrate, there was something in the compound that was running through his veins that made thinking about things that weren't related to the Dream nearly impossible. His head spun as names flowed through his memory almost like a tidal wave of thoughts and consciousness but he fought through the discomfort. He could feel how important it was to remember. Who he was and who Vee was. The connection to Arthur, the man before him, and everything that had come before he'd found himself with few memories stuck in a Dream of his creation. His and Arthur's creation. 

"You don't normally have much imagination. Dedication and precision, but not imagination," Eames stated despite the questioning tone he used. He looked over Arthur. "That's why this place is so well kept, but blank in so many places. That's you. Because you draw on the real too much, and you need that stability but a Dream needs more than stability. To reach a second level in the Dream. You needed more than that. And I can do that. We can do it together. Can't we?"

Arthur smiled again and nodded as the projections moved back again like they were being pushed back by the revelations. "Too true, Mister Eames. Now, can you remember your name? Your real name?"

Eames frowned as names swirled past his mind. "I'm ... Robert Eames. At least I am right now."

"That's right. But you had another name. A lifetime ago. A name you had when you met Vee," Arthur encouraged. 

"It's there... on the tip of my tongue. I can remember so many names. So many aliases. Some from the job and others ... others from ... elsewhere. Another time?" Eames looked a little spooked as he spoke of times and names and places that were far from the Dreamscape. "Max, Ed, Bob, Tom, Frank, Jessica?"

"Edward," Arthur stated slowly tone stern. He waited for an acknowledgment before continuing. "Edward Charles Allan Brock. Most people called you Eddie." 

Eames' eyes went wide as realization struck him like a brick to the head. He almost fell but Arthur helped him to kneel without cracking a kneecap. His eyes went wide and unseeing as images flashed around them. Eames; Eddie, sweat-soaked and trying to figure out what was going on with him. Black goo seeping from the very pores of his skin. Attacking and beheading people. 

_Bad Guys._ A voice from the darkness called softly. 

"I ... there was ... Vee's an alien?" Eames asked, his accent broke a bit on the last word. "I have an alien living inside of me? A parasite?"

"He's not a parasite!" Arthur growled, face hard as he looked offended and the statement was echoed around them as the projections seemed nervous at the exchange and moved further back. Some disappeared altogether. 

"No..." Eames replied as he bobbed his head, eyes still distant as another memory came to him and his hand reached up to rub his chest as the image of a huge blade through his chest flashed by, a fight with a lighter colored alien. 

_Riot._

"I died!" Eames shivered as his hold on Arthur's hand weakened with the force of his emotions. He tried to hold on as the memories continued to crash down around him. The fight. The way they'd looked when they merged together. "Symbiote..." 

"Eames! Don't get lost!" Arthur begged as his eyes went wide at the swirling Dreamscape around them. They'd seen it happen to others and he knew that if Eames couldn't get his mind and memories back under control they might lose him to the Dream. He might fall even further into the Dreamscape. To a place where Arthur couldn't follow him. 

The aftermath of the LIFE Foundation. Reports and hunts for any more of the crazy things that had happened and been rumored to have been created or found within the walls of the compound. Eddie running with Vee to keep people safe. Far away from them. Moving to England. Changing his name. 

"We ... we are Venom!" Eames stated all hints of his British accent gone in exchange for a New York accent. He shook a bit but seemed to be coming back to himself. "We... we don't age, do we?"

Arthur's brief smile turned sad as he nodded. "No, you don't. You can appear to age for a while but Vee keeps your body young and healthy. Thirty-five forever. But you've promised yourselves to me for the duration of my life. And I can't think of a better way to be remembered," Arthur replied with a slight waver in his voice. 

Eames blinked as the memory of how they'd met. How Arthur had met Venom. 

"You... you saw us and you didn't panic," Eames stated, accent back as his eyes cleared a bit. "In a back alley. We were between jobs and I was worried about you. Thought I might get you a little drunk to get that stick up your ass adjusted... some idiot was going to mug you. He had a knife to your throat and the smell of other people's terror and blood. Vee could smell it. I could smell it... we ... Oh dear god..." Eames put a hand to his mouth as he nearly threw up on the ground but managed to hold on for a few more moments until the feeling passed. 

"You literally bit the guys head off. Turned out he was a notorious rapist and murder," Arthur soothed as he rubbed Eames' back with his free hand. He waited until the other was able to look up at him again. 

"You ... hugged us," Eames; without his English accent, back to the American accent, "and you said you saw us change. Saw what we did and that we didn't know that that man had been saying to you. What he was going to do to you. And that we'd saved you."

"That's right. I'm pretty good at seeing past the bullshit. Even when it's coming from you," Arthur replied, a little disconcerted by the rapidly shifting accent. 

"You," Eames breathed as he leaned in and took in the scent of Arthur as he hugged the other man. "You were the first to accept us since Annie and Dan. You... we need to get back to Vee!"

"Yes we do," Arthur replied as he accepted the hug with a soft sigh as Eames drifted back into his British accent once more. "You think we can go now?"

Eames leaned back and gave a roguish smile as he winked and the Dream slowly collapsed around them in a dance of light and color before total darkness engulfed them. 

Arthur opened his eyes and looked around, seeing the worried faces of those that had put them under. He waved off the worried hands and questions as he took the needle from his arm and sat on the edge of Eames' bed, on hand on the Brit's wrist just above the needle. Feeling for his pulse; which was strong and steady, and for any hint of movement. Of waking.

Eames' brow furrowed for a few moments before his eyes slowly blinked open. He looked lost and confused for a few moments before he managed to locate Arthur's eyes in the chaos that had suddenly erupted around them. He pushed nurses and doctors away. Well-meaning hands were unwanted as he reached up and pulled Arthur to him in a fierce hug. 

"We're back. Thank you, Arthur," Eames' whispered and his voice was layered with the double timber of Venom. 

"I'd never leave you behind," Arthur replied with a soft smile as he pulled back slowly but felt Eames' catch his hand; the one that didn't currently have a needle buried in it. And there was the faint feeling of Venom oozing into Arthur's hand to share their mind and thoughts. 

_You brought OUR Eddie back!_ Venom's mental voice had the quality of a kid that had gotten everything they'd asked for at Christmas. 

_Always. For both of you. And for me a bit._ Arthur replied mentally, knowing he must look like a crazy man with an almost blank look on his face. He'd perfected the art of speaking mentally when Vee bridged the gap between them. But he still looked a little out of it when he did so. 

"We're going on holiday after this," Eames promised. 

Arthur and Vee were in agreement of the statement. 

END


End file.
